Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expects no pressure on Israel as the Iraqi war paralyzes the international community. That is why he feels free to roam at will in Palestinian territories and continues to invade Palestinian towns and refugee camps almost nightly, destroying houses, arresting suspected militants and clashing with gunmen.

The Israeli government registered a distinct lack of enthusiasm following the eve-of-war Middle East peace promises from President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. At the end of last week, the two leaders pledged to pursue with renewed vigor the road map to peace. The road map — not yet officially published and still under discussion between America, the European Union, Russia and the UN — provides for a “performance-based, goal-driven” advance toward eventual Palestinian statehood by 2005.

The first phase would involve a full cease-fire, the rebuilding of the Palestinian Authority’s governmental agencies and security forces, and the resumption of security cooperation. In the second phase, “an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty” would be set up as “a way station to a permanent status settlement.” Further progress on the ground, accompanied by extensive international diplomacy, would lead to a “permanent status agreement and end of the conflict” during 2004-05. Progress along this road is predicated on “a Palestinian leadership acting decisively against terror” and “Israel’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established.”

Bush and Blair suggested last week that the appointment of Mahmud Abbas as the new Palestinian prime minister would signify the kind of reform on the Palestinian side that makes such progress possible.

But the new Israeli government under Sharon has demanded that the word “independent” be dropped from the characterization of the temporary Palestinian state, and that this temporary state have only “certain” attributes of sovereignty. Under the Israeli amendments, moreover, a temporary state would be conditional on tougher terms than the draft road map envisages. Israel demands “the complete cessation of violence and terrorism, full disarmament of terrorist organizations... the complete collection of illegal weapons and the emergence of a new and different Palestinian leadership.”

This tough response may be intended to placate Sharon’s ultraright coalition partners, who have threatened to walk out of the government at the first whiff of Palestinian statehood. It is probably designed, too, as an opening stance in what are bound to be long and rigorous negotiations — also compounded by Bush’s offer to the parties to contribute new ideas — if, indeed, the post-Iraq situation allows such negotiations to take place.

Even in the best of circumstances, the situation in Iraq is likely to be chaotic for months to come. The Palestinians should not have to wait that long until a settlement is reached. Nor should they become another casualty of America’s war against Iraq.